Vol.  I.  April   i,   1889.     (Extra.)  No.  5. 


JJo  d  ern_  jjj  cie  nee_||  ssaylst. 

Popular  Evolution  Essays  and  Lectures. 


Monthly,  or  oftener.  Single  Number,  10  Cts. 

,  ifitionti  for  tin1  /-V/-S/  >V;-(>s,  15  .\ii//tl>cr!-,  SI.  50.) 


EVOLUTION  OF  VEGETAL  LIFE 

Hoic  Life  lit'i/ins. 


BY 

\VILL1A_M    POTTS 


77«'  r//p  /v'f/f/x  omens  where  it  goes, 
And  .speoA-N  all  hnii/uages  the  rose  ; 
And,  sii-iriit</  to  hi'  infill,  thf-  1C 
Mtinutx  tlirouij/i  all  the  spires  of  form. 

— Xnfurc,  i.,  1. 

THE  fossil  strata  show  us  th:it  Nuturr  ht-^an  with  rutlimental  forms,  and  rose 
to  the  more  complex  a>  fast  as  the  oarth  was  fit  for  their  dwelling-place;  and 
that  the  lower  perish  as  tin-  hi^hrr  appear.  Very  few  of  our  race  can  be  .said  to 
l>e  yet  finished  men.  \\  <•  -till  earry  sticking  to  its  some  remains  of  the  preced- 
ing interior  quadruped  organization.  .  .  The  age  of  the  quadruped  is  to  go  out, 
— the  age  of  the  brain  and  of  the  heart  is  to  come  in.  And  if  one  shall  read  the 
future  of  the  race  hinted  in  the  organic  effort  of  Nature  to  mount  and  melior- 
ate, and  the  corre.-ponding  impure  to  the  Better  in  the  human  being,  we  shall 
dare  affirm  that  there  is  nothing  he  will  not  overcome  and  convert,  until  at  last 
culture  shall  absort i  the  chaos  and  gehenna.  He  will  convert  the  Furies  into 
Muses  and  the  hells  into  benefit.—  Ciiltun-. 

—  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 


BOSTON  : 

THE   NEW    IDEAL   PUBLISHING   COMPANY 
HATHAWAY  BUILDING.  620  ATLANTIC  AVE. 

.  Jlo.it nn.foi-  i  oiiA-class  postal  rates. 


PROSPECTUS    OF    THE     BROOKLYN     SERIES. 


1.  Herbert  Spencer :  His  life,  writings,  and  philosophy. 

By  Mr.  Daniel  Greenleaf  Thompson. 

2.  Charles  Robert  Darwin :  His  life,  works,  and  influence. 

By  Rev.  John  W.  Chad  wick. 

3.  Solar  and  Planetary  Evolution :  How  suns  and  worlds  come 

into  being.  By  Mr.  Garrett  P.  Serviss. 

4.  Evolution  of  the  Earth :  The  story  of  geology. 

By  Dr.  Lewis  G.  Janes. 

5.  Evolution  of  Vegetal  Life :  How  life  begins. 

By  Mr.  William  Potts. 

6.  Evolution  of  Animal  Life  :  The  order  of  zoological  evolution. 

By  Dr.  Rossiter  W.  Raymond. 

7.  The  Descent  of  Man :  His  origin,  antiquity,  growth. 

By  Prof.  E.  D.  Cope. 

8.  Evolution  of  Mind :  Its  nature  and  development. 

By  Dr.  Robert  G.  Eccles. 

9.  Evolution  of  Society :  Families,  tribes,  states,  classes. 

By  Mr.  James  A.  Skilton. 

10.  Evolution  of  Theology :  Development  of  religious  beliefs. 

By  Mr.  Z.  Sidney  Sampson. 

11.  Evolution  of  JMoralz:  Egoism,  altruism,  utilitarianism,  etc. 

By  Dr.  Lewis  G.  Janes. 

12.  Proofs  of  Evolution  :  The  eight  main  scientific  arguments. 

By  Mr.  Nelson  C.  Parshall. 

13.  Evolution  as  Belated  to  Religions  Thong  lit. 

By  Rev.  John  \V.  rhadwick. 

14.  The  Philosophy  of  Evolution  :  Its  relation  to  prevailing  systems. 

By  Mr.  Starr  H.  Nichols. 

15.  The  Effects  of  Evolution  on  the  Coining  Civilization. 

By  Rev.  Minot  J.  Savage. 

To  be  followed  bv  other  Lectures  and  Essays,  ot  similar  explanatory  and  con- 
structive tenor,  based  on  modern  scientific  research  and  attainment. 

Subscriptions  for  the  Fifteen  Lectures  above  enumerated  will  1*  received  for 
$1.50. 

Single  copies  of  any  lecture,  as  published,  may  be  had  for  10  cents  each. 

Address  THE  XEW  IDEAL  COMPAXY. 


BROOKLYN 

ETHICAL  ASSOCIATION 


EVOLUTION    ESSAYS 
V. 


Ten   Cents 


.EVOLUTION  OF  VEGETAL  LIFE 


WILLIAM  POTTS 


BOSTON  : 

THE  NEW  IDEAL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
HATHAWAY  BUILDING.  C.L'd  ATI  vvnr  AW 


1-4 


PREFACE. 

THE  publication  of  the  series  of  essays  on  Evolution,  delivered 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Brooklyn  Ethical  Association,  is  under- 
taken in  response  to  a  general  and  increasing  demand  for  a  correct 
statement,  in  popular  form,  of  the  leading  ideas,  inferences  and 
tendencies  involved  in  the  acceptance  of  the  Evolution  Philosophy, 
together  with  a  clear  statement  of  the  main  lines  of  evidence  or 
proof  by  which  the  conception  of  Evolution  is  sustained.  The 
plan  of  the  series  involves  not  only  the  treatment  of  the  physical 
and  biological  phases  of  the  subject,  but  also  its  ethical,  social, 
religious  and  philosophical  aspects  —  the  whole  to  be  introduced 
by  biographical  sketches  of  the  two  great  men  of  our  own  time 
whose  names  are  most  intimately  associated  with  the  Evolution 
hypothesis. 

As  to  the  selection  and  arrangement  of  topics  in  the  programme 
of  the  Ethical  Association,  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  says  :  "  The  mode 
of  presentation  seems  to  me  admirably  adapted  for  popularizing  Ev- 
olution views";  and  Mr.  John  Fiske  writes,  "I  think  your 
schedule  attractive  and  valuable."  The  essayists  have  been  selected 
with  care,  with  special  reference  to  the  character  of  the  topics  to 
be  treated.  It  is  hoped  that  the  publication  of  these  lectures  may 
aid  societies  and  individuals  throughout  the  country,  in  organiz- 
ing and  conducting  classes  in  the  study  of  Evolution,  and  thereby 
prepare  many  minds  for  an  intelligent  and  systematic  perusal  of 
the  more  voluminous  and  scientific  works  of  Darwin,  Spencer,  and 
other  standard  authorities. 

The  different  phases  of  the  subject  are  treated  in  this  series  in 
a  certain  natural  order  of  succession,  which  the  student  and  reader 
will  do  well  to  follow  in  the  perusal  of  the  lectures. 

L.  G.  J. 


EVOLUTION    OF   VEGETAL    LIFE.* 


IN  touching  the  question  of  development,  even  as  it  af- 
fects the  most  insignificant  plant,  we  are  feeling  the  pulse 
of  the  deepest  mysteries : 

"  To  me  the  meanest  flower  that  blows  can  give 
Thoughts  that  do  often  lie  too  deep  for  tears." 

On  the  26th  of  last  July  I  was  wandering  around  among 
the  rocks  where  Cape  Ann  thrusts  her  granite  arm  out  into 
the  turbulent  Atlantic,  and  bears  from  hour  to  hour  through 
the  ages  the  buffeting  thunder-strokes  of  its  mighty  surf. 
The  breeze  was  fresh ;  bright  sunlight  was  reflected  from 
the  orange-gray  rocks ;  and  the  air  was  full  of  the  perfume  of 
the  bay -berry.  But  perhaps  most  lovely  of  all,  where  all  was 
charming,  was  the  myriad  of  wild  roses  which  covered  the 
bushes  springing  from  the  stony  soil.  We  all  know  and 
love  these  delicate  blossoms,  which  everywhere  make  our 
roadsides  so  attractive  at  midsummer.  Professor  Gray 
enumerates  six  species  as  growing  in  the  Northern  United 
States,  and  some  varieties  of  these  are  to  be  found  in  al- 
most every  locality  where  there  is  a  trace  of  wildness  left. 
I  have  here  roses  from  a  bush  of  a  different  character,  but 
we  shall  hardly  say  that  they  are  less  lovely.  I  want  to 
ask  you  to  follow  me  in  an  inquiry  into  the  stages  of  the 
-  development  of  the  bush  from  which  they  were  taken ;  the 
different  steps  of  growth  which  occurred  before  I  could 
place  before  you  these  royal  blossoms. 

In  what  shape  did  it  first  appear  as  a  growing  plant  ?  Prob- 
ably as  a  short  cutting  from  a  branch,  bearing  a  few  buds, 
and  inserted  for  a  part  of  its  length  in  sandy  loam  :  that  is, 
it  was  simply  a  part  of  another  bush.  The  bush  from 
which  it  was  taken  doubtless  originated  in  the  same  way, 
and  so  back  for  many  generations,  or  quasi-generations, — 
for,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  have  here  no  change  by  gen- 
eration, but  simply  the  prolongation  of  the  life  of  a  single 

*  COPYRIGHT,  1889,  by  The  Xew  Ideal  Publishing  Co. 


112  Evolution    of  Vegetal   Life. 

plant,  by  cutting  off  the  root,  and  bringing  the  branch  into 
immediate  contact  with  the  soil  and  its  contained  fluids. 
By  this  means  its  life  may  be  prolonged  far  beyond  what  is 
ordinarily  its  duration  if  left  to  grow  from  the  original  root, 
but  not  always,  perhaps,  beyond  what  is  possible  in  such 
case :  of  a  rose-bush  still  living  at  Heldersheim,  in  Ger- 
many, it  is  said  that,  800  years  ago,  Bishop  Hepilo  caused 
a  trellis  to  be  erected  to  support  it. 

For  the  purpose  of  my  illustration,  I  can  most  safely  go 
far  back  of  the  plant  which  produced  the  roses  before  us, 
and  perhaps  may  as  well  take  one  of  those  in  the  thorns  of 
which  I  became  entangled  by  the  margin  of  the  sea.  Those 
of  you  who  are  familiar  with  botany  will  pardon  the  intro- 
duction of  some  rudimentary  facts,  which  are  essential  to 
the  systematic  development  of  the  idea  which  I  am  to  pre- 
sent to  you. 

We  find,  then,  upon  the  summit  of  the  flower  stem,  a  lit- 
tle green  urn  or  cup,  dividing  into  five  leafy  points,  and 
supporting  upon  its  inner  edge  the  five  pink  petals  and  a 
numerous  colony  of  stamens  crowned  with  yellow  anthers ; 
while  within  the  cup  are  many  tiny  sacks,  to  each  of  which 
is  attached  a  pistil  having  its  summit  slightly  changed  into 
what  is  called  the  stigma.  When  the  flower  is  completely 
developed,  we  find  that  the  anthers  open  and  drop  golden 
pollen-grains  upon  the  stigmas  below ;  and  sufficient  subse- 
quent examination  under  a  microscope  shows  us  that  from 
each  live  pollen-grain  there  grows  a  slender  thread,  which 
gradually  penetrates  to  the  little  sack  or  ovule  beneath. 
We  next  find  formed,  within  the  ovule,  a  minute  cell :  a 
membrane  called  cellulose,  consisting  chemically  of  carbon, 
oxygen  and  hydrogen,  containing  a  semi-fluid  drop  of  a  sub- 
stance called  protoplasm,  and  consisting  of  the  same  ele- 
ments, with  the  addition  of  nitrogen.  I  cannot  tell  you 
just  how  large  this  cell  may  be,  but  the  ordinary  diameter 
of  cells  in  vegetable  tissue  varies  between  l-240th  and 
l-1200th  of  an  inch.  If  we  take  the  largest  of  these,  a  cu- 
bic inch  would  contain  about  14,000,000  of  them.  But 
whatever  its  size,  this  cell  carries  the  promise  and  the  po- 
tency of  the  plant  which  is  to  be.  It  is  not  the  primary 
form  of  vitalized  matter,  for  this  matter  exists  as  mere 
protoplasm  alone,  without  a  membrane.  In  its  earliest  con- 
dition we  should  be  unable  to  tell  whether  this  protoplasm 
is  the  initial  step  in  the  formation  of  a  microscopic  being 


Evolution   of  Veyetal  Life.  113 

not  distinguishable  either  as  plant  or  animal, —  or  whether 
it  is  to  be  a  rose,  a  violet,  a  palm  or  an  oak, —  a  worm,  a  fish, 
a  lion  or  a  man.  Its  future  is  absolutely  unpredictable,  and 
yet  upon  it  have  been  impressed  or  within  it  are  contained 
the  influences  which  determine  which  of  these  forms  it  shall 
take,  in  what  way  it  shall  resemble  other  beings,  and  in 
what  Avay  be  distinguished  from  them :  whether  it  shall  live 
a  stationary  life,  rooted  to  a  rock  or  to  the  soil, —  accepting 
the  fate  which  the  winds  and  the  waters  bring  it, —  or 
whether  it  shall  have  the  power  of  flying  to  "  fresh  woods 
and  pastures  new";  whether  it  shall  be  a  characterless 
automaton,  or  whether  it  shall  speculate  upon  the  origin  of 
things,  and  upon  life  and  death,  the  infinite  and  the  abso- 
lute. 

If  we  follow  the  changes  in  this  cell,  we  find  it  gradually 
becoming  larger,  and  dividing  by  a  partition  into  two,  into 
four,  and  so  on,  until  a  tissue  is  formed ;  into  a  substance 
having  perceptible  length,  breadth  and  thickness.  At  last 
we  recognize  it  as  a  seed :  two  minute  leaflets  attached  to 
the  rudiment  of  a  stem,  all  enclosed  within  a  surface  mem- 
brane. This  is  now  distinctly  the  beginning  of  a  plant, 
and  with  numerous  others  it  is  contained  within  the  orange- 
colored  "  hip."  In  this  state  it  is  quiescent,  but  if  after  a 
time  we  place  it  in  the  earth,  we  shortly  find  it  burst  its 
sheath :  the  stem  lengthens  and  pushes  downward ;  the  leaf- 
lets, reaching  toward  the  surface,  separate,  and  from  be- 
tween them  there  rises  a  sprout.  How  is  this  done  ?  Sim- 
ply by  the  increase  in  size,  and  the  multiplication  of  the 
cells  already  formed,  by  absorption  of  the  necessary  chem- 
ical constituents  found  in  the  soil.  But  these  cells  now 
have  a  more  definite  arrangement.  Some  form  a  white  root, 
and  some  a  stem  also  white,  until  it  thrusts  into  the  air  and 
light  the  point  of  a  leaf,  which  immediately  takes  a  tint  of 
green. 

From  this  time  on  subsistence  is  not  drawn  from  the  soil 
alone,  but  from  the  air  also.  The  leaf  is  not  simply  the 
right  boAver  of  the  plant ;  it  is  its  essential,  I  might  say  its 
only  essential  organ.  There  are,  it  is  true,  some  plants 
which  get  along  without  leaves ;  such,  for  example,  as  the 
bright  orange-colored  dodder,  common  in  our  meadows  and 
by  the  brooksides,  trailing  its  long  thread-like  steins  over 
shrubs  and  herbs,  a  golden  network,  with  never  a  leaf,  but 
with  clusters  of  white  blossoms.  But  these  are  lazy  rogues, 


114  Evolution   of  Vegetal   Life. 

mere  parasites,  which  do  not  even  remain  rooted  in  the 
ground,  although  they  start  there,  but  which  attach  them- 
selves to  other  plants,  and,  too  indolent  to  manufacture  their 
own  sap,  plunder  the  vegetables,  to  which  they  have  affixed 
themselves,  of  the  material  which  they  had  provided  for 
their  own  growth.  There  are  numerous  other  plants  not 
growing  from  the  soil,  such  as  the  air-plants,  with  their  gor- 
geous, or  their  fantastic  insect  or  birdlike  flowers ;  but  these, 
to  do  them  justice,  are  not  so  wholly  idle  and  degraded : 
they  are  provided  with  leaves  with  which  they  earn  their 
own  living ;  they  do  not  draAv  nourishment  from  the  trees 
upon  which  they  are  found,  but  merely  use  them  for  sup- 
port. 

As  the  cells  become  more  numerous,  they  also  become 
more  and  more  diversified  in  structure.  In  different  parts 
they  are  different  in  form,  in  size  and  in  their  nature ;  some 
are  very  beautiful ;  most  are  small,  but  othe'rs  take  the  form 
of  tubes,  and  are  enormous,  having  a  length  in  some  in- 
stances as  great  as  one-sixth  of  an  inch !  But  this  is  an  ex- 
treme case.  The  crude  ingredients  for  the  sustenance  of 
the  plant  are  absorbed  by  the  root,  and  transferred  from  one 
closed  cell  to  another,  through  many  millions  it  may  be,  un- 
til they  reach  the  leaves,  where  they  are  mixed  with  the 
constituents  of  the  atmosphere,  and  elaborated  into  the  pro- 
toplasm from  which  the  plant  is  built  up.  The  rapidity 
with  which  this  transference  may  take  place  you  have  your- 
selves noticed,  when  you  have  taken  a  drooping  flower  and 
placed  it  in  a  vessel  of  water.  How  soon  the  stem,  leaves 
and  blossom  regained  their  firmness,  their  rigidity,  their 
elasticity,  their  "  life  "  ! 

The  plant  now  sends  up  a  stem  upon  which  appear  bnds ; 
these  unfold  into  leaves ;  branches  grow  from  the  axils  of 
the  leaves,  and  leaves  appear  upon  these  in  turn,  and 
thorns  form,  by  which  the  plant  is  defended.  A  flower  is 
no  necessary  part  of  a  plant ;  it  is  but  one  means  of  pro- 
viding for  a  continuance  of  the  series.  The  flower  itself  is 
but  a  series  of  modifications  of  a  cluster  of  leaves,  some 
of  which  have  become  sepals,  some  petals,  some  stamens, 
and  some  pistils.  At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Koyal  Hor- 
ticultural Society  in  London,  an  Alpine  strawberry  was 
shown  in  which  all  parts  of  the  flower  were  more  or  less 
represented  by  leaves.  The  strawberry  is  a  near  relative, 
a  sort  of  cousin-german  as  it  were,  of  the  rose. 


Evolution   of  Vegetal  Life.  115 

We  have  now  completed  the  cycle.  Starting  from  the 
flower,  Ave  have  followed  the  life-steps  until  we  have  reached 
it  again.  Another  course  which  we  might  have  adopted, 
the  one  ordinarily  chosen  by  fruit-growers,  is  that  of  bud- 
ding or  grafting.  We  should  then  have  simply  taken  a  sin- 
gle bud  in  the  one  case,  a  small  twig  in  the  other,  from  the 
variety  which  we  desired  to  propagate,  and  inserted  it  into 
a  sturdy  stock  of  a  nearly  related  kind,  in  which  we  had 
made  an  incision,  bringing  the  inner  bark  into  close  contact, 
and  excluding  the  air  from  the  joint.  What  is  the  result 
of  this  process  ?  Excepting  in  a  few  special  cases,  which 
I  cannot  stop  to  describe,  the  line  of  union  between  the  two 
growths  becomes  indeed  a  line  of  union,  but  remains  a  line 
of  separation.  It  is  like  the  door  of  the  underworld  of 
which  Dante  speaks,  though  perhaps  the  prospect  is  not  so 
hopeless.  Your  quince  or  crab  stock  is  firmly  rooted  in  the 
ground ;  it  draws  thence  its  juices  and  transfers  them  from 
cell  to  cell,  to  those  of  the  new  bud ;  but  here  they  "  suffer 
a  sea  change  into  something  rich  and  strange."  Your  bud 
multiplies  its  cells, —  becomes  a  twig, —  a  branch ;  it  buds, 
it  blossoms,  and  instead  of  the  woody  but  fragrant  quince, 
the  rosy  but  diminutive  crab-apple,  you  gather  the  pear- 
main,  the  wine-sap,  or  the  seek-no-further,  as  you  may  have 
elected. 

But  stop.  Do  you  always  gather  a  fruit  exactly  like 
that  with  which  you  were  familiar  ?  Do  you  invariably 
obtain  from  the  seed  or  cutting  of  your  rose  a  flower  of  the 
same  identical  tint  —  of  the  same  form,  of  the  same  fra- 
grance ?  Not  so :  you  find  slight  differences,  for  the  better 
or  for  the  worse  ;  scarcely  any  two  are  precisely  alike ;  you 
choose  those  that  you  prefer  and  propagate  them ;  you  neg- 
lect the  others. 

We  have  seen  that  Gray  enumerates  six  species  of  wild 
roses  in  the  Northern  United  States.  There  are  also  a  num- 
ber of  wild  species  in  the  Eastern  Hemisphere  —  how  many 
I  cannot  tell  you.  But  their  cultivation  began  at  an  early 
date,  and  they  have  been  developed  and  crossed  inextri- 
cably s  In  1793  some  wild  Scotch  roses  were  transplanted 
into  a  garden.  One  bore  flowers  slightly  tinged  with  red; 
from  this,  double  roses  were  developed,  blush,  crimson,  pur- 
ple, red,  marbled,  two  colored,  white  and  yellow,  and  differ- 
ing as  much  in  size  and  shape.  In  1841  the  number  of 
varieties  in  the  nursery-gardens  near  Glasgow  was  estimated 


116  Evolution   of  Vegetal   Life. 

at  300.  In  1829,  2562  kinds  of  roses  were  enumerated  as 
cultivated  in  France  alone.  Most  cultivated  roses  have  be- 
come double,  and  gradually  less  fertile,  and  less  sure  of  re- 
production in  kind  by  seed,  so  that  propagation  by  cuttings 
and  by  budding  and  grafting  is  resorted  to,  when  the  same 
characteristics  are  desired.  Our  apples  belong  to  the  rose- 
family.  You  know  how  much  they  vary.  If  they  do  not 
all  come  from  the  common  crab,  there  are  no  wild  species 
living,  or  of  which  there  is  any  trace,  resembling  the  pres- 
ent forms,  and  these  are  continually  being  increased  in  num- 
ber. 

This  may  be  as  good  a  time  as  any,  to  speak  of  another 
variation, —  a  variation  which  sometimes  occurs  immediate- 
ly in  the  fruit  produced  from  the  pollen  of  one  plant  when 
placed  upon  the  flower  of  another,  and  not  simply  as  seen 
in  the  fruit  of  a  plant  resulting  from  seed  so  produced. 
As  an  illustration  of  this,  I  will  give  a  single  instance. 

At  St.  Valery  in  France  there  is  an  apple-tree  which  has 
blossoms  with  a  double  calyx  having  ten  divisions,  and  with 
fourteen  styles,  but  without  corolla  or  stamens.  The 
flowers  therefore  require  artificial  fertilization  with  pollen 
from  another  tree.  The  girls  of  the  village  go  annually  to 
"fairesespommes," — to  make  their  apples,  each  marking 
her  own  fruit  with  a  ribbon,  and  as  different  pollen  is  used, 
the  fruit  differs  on  the  tree.  This  is  an  exceptional  case, 
but  the  same  thing  has  occurred  where  the  conditions  were 
not  so  unusual. 

Almonds,  pears,  peaches,  plums,  cherries,  nectarines,  etc., 
belong  to  the  rose-family.  The  peach  is  believed  to  have 
been  derived  from  the  almond,  and  the  nectarine  is  sup- 
posed to  have  grown  from  a  peach-stone,  in  Boston,  Eng- 
land. It  is  certain  that  peach-trees  frequently  produce 
nectarines,  while  nectarines  at  times  produce  peaches, 
sometimes  both  kinds  of  fruit  appearing  together  on  the 
tree.  Occasionally  a  part  of  a  single  fruit  is  peach,  and  a 
part  nectarine.  You  know  what  a  vast  difference  there  is 
in  the  varieties  of  grapes.  Most  of  these  are  supposed  to 
have  risen  from  a  single  Asiatic  species.  Of  gooseberries 
there  were  eight  varieties  known  in  1629 ;  now  there  are 
over  300. 

Pansies  are  believed  to  have  been  derived  from  five  wild 
stocks,  variously  crossed.  You  are  all  familiar  with  their 
varieties  and  differences.  Dahlias  are  believed  to  have  all 


Evolution   of  Vegetal   Life.  117 

come  from  one  species  since  1802  in  France  and  1804  in  Eng- 
land. With  the  varieties  of  these  you  are  likewise  familiar. 
So  also  with  the  hyacinths.  The  original  flower,  which  was 
brought  from  the  East,  had  the  petals  narrow,  wrinkled, 
pointed,  and  of  a  flimsy  texture.  In  1597  there  were  four 
varieties;  in  1629  there  were  eight;  in  1768  there  were 
said  to  be  nearly  2000.  The  number  has  since,  it  is  be- 
lieved, very  much  decreased.  Of  chrysanthemums,  "it  is 
said  that  at  least  10,000  seedlings  have  been  exhibited  for 
the  first  time  this  year.  The  diversity  of  form  and  color 
displayed  is  almost  infinite,  and  the  various  strains  have 
been  so  intercrossed  that  the  seeds  from  a  single  flower- 
head  will  often  produce  examples  of  the  types  most  widely 
separated  in  structure  and  size,  together  with  intermediate 
and  kindred  forms." 

These  numerous  varieties  have  been  produced  first  by  un- 
conscious, then  by  conscious  as  well  as  by  unconscious  se- 
lection. The  least  of  a  botanist  among  us  knows  enough 
to  gather  the  finest  cluster  of  mayflowers  which  she  may 
find  by  brushing  away  the  dry  leaves  with  which  they  are 
covered  in  the  early  spring ;  the  best  huckleberries  or  blue- 
berries that  grow  upon  the  mountain  top.  We  all  know 
that  there  -is  a  difference.  So  in  the  orchard  or  in  the  gar- 
den. If  there  are  too  many  apple-trees,  it  is  not  those  which 
bear  the  finest  apples  which  will  be  sacrificed ;  if  the  rose- 
bushes need  protection  from  the  frost,  it  is  not  those  which 
produce  the  smallest  and  the  most  scentless  blossoms  that 
will  be  most  tenderly  cared  for.  We  know,  too,  that  as  we 
give  a  more  steady  supply  of  moisture  and  nourishment  to 
the  plants  which  we  protect,  they  improve  in  quality  and 
increase  in  variety.  How  they  will  vary,  at  the  outset  we 
-do  not  know,  nor  do  we  know  when  they  will  vary.  But 
experience  has  shown  us  that  they  will  vary,  and  that  by 
protecting  such  varieties  as  please  us  most,  and  propagating 
them,  and  conversely,  by  neglecting  or  destroying  those 
which  are  less  satisfactory,  the  variations  once  begun  can 
be  increased  and  made  definite  upon  the  lines  chosen. 

From  this  elementary  condition,  cultivation  has  gone  for- 
ward until  it  has  become  the  artistic  representative  of  a 
science,  and  until  it  almost  seems  that  due  diligence  only  is 
required  to  enable  the  floriculturist  to  turn  out  a  flower  of 
any  pattern  which  may  be  suggested  to  him. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  however,  that  these  results  are 


118  Evolution   of  Vegetal   Life. 

frequently  attained  under  conditions  which  are  artificial, 
and  which  are  dependent  upon  the  continued  care  and  at- 
tention of  the  operator.  From  this  it  would  naturally  be 
inferred  that  the  elaborate  productions  of  the  culturist's  art, 
if  left  to  themselves,  would  either  perish  from  the  too  cold 
charities  of  the  common  world,  or  would  rapidly  change 
their  character,  and  if  they  did  not  return  toward  the  form 
from  which  they  were  derived,  would  at  least  become  some- 
thing quite  different  from  that  to  which  they  had  been 
trained, —  and  this  is  frequently,  if  not  always,  found  to  be 
the  case.  I  have  been  particularly  interested  in  noticing 
the  apple-trees  growing  among  the  trees  of  the  forest,  by 
the  side  of  country  roads :  not  merely  the  fruit  is  different 
from  what  it  should  have  been,  but  the  whole  character  of 
the  tree  is  changed.  The  branches,  instead  of  being  few 
and  wide-reaching,  have  become  numerous,  ascending,  fre- 
quently divided,  angular,  and  with  twigs  short  and  thorny. 

Strictly  speaking,  an  organism  is  that  which  has  organs. 
Colloquially,  however,  when  we  speak  of  organic  life,  we 
use  the  term  in  contradistinction  from  mineral,  which  we 
call  inorganic.  As  we  have  seen,  the  lowest  form  of  mat- 
ter of  which  we  speak  as  living,  is  composed  of  carbon, 
oxygen,  hydrogen  and  nitrogen,  which  are  also  found  in 
compounds  not  termed  organic.  What,  then,  is  the  distinc- 
tion between  the  organic  and  the  inorganic,  and  how  and 
when  did  this  distinction  arise  ? 

Huxley  gives  three  points,  in  which  he  claims  that  that 
which  has  life  differs  from  that  which  has  not  life.  First  : 
In  its  chemical  composition ;  the  chemical  elements  are 
united  in  a  combination  called  proteine,  which,  together 
with  a  large  proportion  of  water,  forms  protoplasm.  Pro- 
teine, it  is  said,  has  never  yet  been  found  except  as  a  prod- 
uct of  living  bodies.  Second :  Its  universal  disintegration 
and  waste  by  oxidation,  and  its  reintegration  by  the  recep- 
tion of  new  matter.  Third :  Its  tendency  to  undergo  cyc- 
lical changes  —  that  is,  to  pass  through  a  course  of  devel- 
opment and  decay  in  a  succession  of  forms,  like  and  unlike. 

Probably  at  the  outset  many  persons  would  say  that  mo- 
tion and  growth  are  the  most  characteristic  attributes  of  life. 
But  the  mineral  compounds  show  both  motion  and  growth. 
Certainly  few  things  are  more  definite  or  beautiful  than  the 
growth,  of  course  accompanied  by  motion,  which  occurs  in 


Erolutiou    of  Veyetal   Life.  Ill) 

the  formation  of  crystals,  and  which  is  shown  us  in  tran- 
scendently  lovely  forms  in  the  frost-work  upon  our  win- 
dows upon  a  winter  morning. 

It  is  a  most  interesting  question  whether  the  forces  which 
produce  organic  life  differ  from  those  so-called  physical 
forces  with  which  we  are  familiar  in  other  phenomena.  It 
is  clear  that  all  the  complicated  processes  which  we  call 
"  vital "  in  ourselves  and  other  higher  organisms,  are  invari- 
ably found  in  the  closest  and  most  intimate  relations,  ap- 
parently of  effect  and  cause,  with  light,  heat,  electricity, 
etc.  Modern  science  has  shown  these  forces  to  be  equiva- 
lent, correlative  and  interconvertible,  and  it  would  seem  an 
excess  of  stupidity  did  we  not  mentally  connect  the  elab- 
orate operations  which  we  know  with  the  simpler  ones 
which  preceded  them,  as  alike  in  nature  and  origin.  How- 
ever we  may  define  it,  we  are  certainly,  at  present,  forced 
to  recognize  a  distinction  between  that  which  we  say  has 
life,  and  that  which  we  say  is  without  life.  But  this  dis- 
tinction, this  parting  of  the  ways,  finds  us  upon  a  narrow 
edge.  On  the  side  of  life,  we  have  an  unorganized  albu- 
minous substance  without  definite  size,  or  form,  or  bounda- 
ries,—  simply  homogeneous  matter  of  intimately  united  car- 
bon, hydrogen,  oxygen  and  nitrogen.  I  should  note  here 
that  Huxley  remarks :  "  It  may  be  safely  said  of  all  those 
living  things  Avhich  are  large  enough  to  enable  us  to  trust 
the  evidence  of  microscopes,  that  they  are  heterogeneous 
optically,  and  that  their  different  parts,  and  especially  the 
surface-layer,  as  contrasted  with  the  interior,  differ  phys- 
ically and  chemically."  He  does  not,  however,  mean  by 
this  that  the  difference  extends  so  far  as  to  constitute  or- 
gans. 

How  the  differentiation  between  the  living  and  the  not- 
living  took  place,  who  shall  say  ?  All  that  we  know  at 
present  is,  that  it  did  take  place,  or  that  at  some  time  it 
was,  and  that  among  the  qualities  of  which  so-called  organ- 
ic matter  was  then  possessed,  or  which  at  least  it  has  al- 
ways exhibited  since  it  has  been  observed  by  men,  were  the 
capacity  for  change,  and  the  power  of  transforming  inor- 
ganic into  organic  matter. 

Protoplasm  in  masses,  as  discovered  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea  by  the  Challenger  expedition,  was  described  by  Huxley 
under  the  name  of  Bathybius.  Of  the  same  composition 
we  find  perhaps  the  lowest  forms  of  individual  life,  in  what 


120  Evolution    of  Veyetal   Life. 

are  called  monera; —  simple  tiny  lumps  of  protoplasm, 
which  have  no  containing  membrane.  Their  motion  con- 
sists in  a  changing  of  shape  by  the  protrusion  and  retrac- 
tion of  certain  parts,  not  differing  in  structure  from  other 
parts,  and  they  multiply  in  a  most  unmathematical  way,  by 
dividing.  Are  they  animal  ?  Are  they  vegetable  ?  Are 
they  not  rather  a  division  antecedent  to  these,  and  one  which 
cannot  be  classed  with  either  of  the  great  kingdoms,  which 
probably  diverged  from  it  ?  Haeckel,  with  a  considerable 
show  of  reason,  takes  the  latter  position,  at  least  tenta- 
tively. 

These,  and  the  nearest  allied  forms,  are  generally  micro- 
scopic ;  some  may  be  said  to  have  organization  —  there  is  a 
certain  differentiation  of  parts ;  they  have  motion ;  some  of 
them,  such  as  the  diatomacese,  have  silicious  shells  or  skel- 
etons, with  wonderfully  beautiful  markings.  That  you 
might  have  some  perception  of  the  subtility  of  nature's 
handiwork,  I  should  like  to  show  you  through  my  micro- 
scope a  specimen  of  one  of  the  species  of  these.  You 
would  see  a  tiny  vessel,  for  all  the  world  like  a  canoe 
turned  bottom  upward  (as  I  have  a  chilly  remembrance  of 
mine  having  been  once,  with  myself  atop,  under  the  gentle 
ministrations  of  a  September  gale  in  New  York  harbor), 
only  with  stem  and  stern  gracefully  curved  sidewise  in  op- 
posite directions,  and  regularly  marked  diagonally  from 
point  to  point  with  almost  innumerable  parallel  lines  in  two 
series,  nearly  at  right  angles.  It  is  magnified  500  diam- 
eters,—  that  is,  within  the  space  apparently  occupied,  could 
be  placed  250,000  of  the  actual  diatoms.  Mr.  McAllister 
tells  me  that  he  has  seen  the  same  object  under  a  magnify- 
ing power  of  100,000  diameters,  or  covering  seemingly  a 
surface  which  would  enclose  ten  billions  (or,  what  is  the 
same  thing,  10,000  millions)  of  the  vegetable,  if  vegetable 
we  are  to  call  it.  Of  course  but  an  extremely  small  frac- 
tion of  the  object  can  thus  be  examined  at  one  time.  Un- 
der this  power,  the  simple  parallel  lines  become  the  inter- 
secting paths  between  continuous  rows  of  hemispherical 
projections. 

Notwithstanding  their  shells,  and  notwithstanding  their 
motion,  these  are  usually  accounted  vegetable.  Indeed,  it 
is  difficult  to  find  any  test  by  which  that  which  is  animal 
may  be  separated  absolutely  from  that  which  is  vegetable. 
Is  it  incongruous  for  a  vegetable  to  have  a  solid  mineral 


E eolation   of  Vegetal   Life.  121 

frame-work  like  that  of  the  diatoms  ?  The  Rev.  J.  G. 
Wood  says  of  flint  in  grasses  and  in  the  horse-tails  or 
equisetse,  "  so  plentiful  is  this  substance,  and  so  equally  is 
it  distributed,  that  it  can  be  separated  by  heat  or  acids  from 
the  vegetable  parts  of  the  plant,  and  Avill  still  preserve  the 
form  of  the  original  cuticle  with  its  cell-walls,  stomata  and 
hairs  perfectly  well  denned."  Is  it  strange  that  a  plant 
should  have  motion  ?  Darwin  has  shown,  by  multitudinous 
experiments,  that  many  climbing-plants  regularly  revolve 
at  their  growing  ends,  from  right  to  left,  or  from  left  to 
right ;  that  these  revolutions  are  made  in  specific  times ; 
that  their  tendrils,  when  they  have  them,  likewise  revolve, 
and  move  forward  to  avoid  clasping  the  stems  upon  which 
they  grow ;  that  sometimes,  even  if  touched  on  one  side  by 
a  weight  no  greater  than  l-50th  of  a  grain,  they  will  curve 
toward  that  side,  and  subsequently  become  relaxed ;  that- 
when  they  find  a  suitable  object,  they  will  twine  around  it, 
and  having  fastened  themselves  securely,  draw  up  into  a 
spiral  spring,  thus  holding  the  plant  more  safely  to  its  sup- 
port, and  at  the  same  time  providing  a  method  by  which  it 
can  yield  to  the  pressure  of  the  wind  without  disaster. 

Is  it  in  the  character  of  their  food  ?  It  used  to  be  said 
that  animals  could  only  subsist  upon  organic  matter  pro- 
vided by  vegetables,  either  immediately,  or  indirectly 
through  the  substance  of  other  animals,  while  vegetables 
drew  their  nourishment  only  from  air,  earth  and  water,  elab- 
orating organic  from  inorganic  matter.  But  here  again  we 
were  at  fault.  I  am  the  happy  possessor  of  a  few  rocky 
acres  in  the  north-eastern  corner  of  Connecticut.  At  the 
foot  of  my  slope  is  a  pond,  with  a  meadow  and  a  stretch  of 
marshy  ground  rich  in  flowers  of  many  sorts.  Among 
these  is  the  beautiful  sundew,  with  its  little  round  or  oval 
leaves,  covered  with  slender  hairs,  each  holding  upon  its 
summit  a  pure  and  brilliant  ruby  drop.  There  it  lies  in 
wait  to  catch  incautious  insects,  ants  or  flies,  and  when  once 
they  have  ventured  upon  its  shining  trap,  gently  folds  them 
in  and  holds  them  in  a  close  embrace,  until  all  their  avail- 
able substance  has  been  absorbed.  There,  also,  in  hun- 
dreds,— yes,  in  thousands, —  is  the  curious  pitcher-plant,  al- 
ways holding  out  its  cups  to  catch  unwary  stragglers,  and 
then  using  the  same  cups  in  which  to  prepare  them  for  its 
daily  meal.  In  the  South  there  are  other  species  of  these, 
which  have  a  sugary  trail  leading  over  the  edge  of  the  cups 


122  Evolution   of  Vegetal    Life. 

and  so  down  to  the  ground, —  a  long  and  narrow  road  to  per- 
dition for  uneducated  or  too  dissipated  insects.  There,  also, 
are  the  Venus'  fly-traps, —  more  ambitious  relatives  of  the 
sundew, —  greedy  plants,  which  are  not  always  cautious 
enough  about  what  they  attempt  to  devour.  It  is  said  that 
one  of  them,  being  fed  by  a  waggish  investigator  with  a 
piece  of  cheese,  had  a  most  disagreeable  dyspepsia  there- 
from. 

Mr.  W.  T.  Thistleton  Dyer,  in  the  "  Encyclopaedia  Brit- 
annica,"  draws  this  distinction  between  animals  and  plants  : 
"  If  we  compare  a  plant  and  animal  reduced  to  their  sim- 
plest terms,  and  consisting  therefore  in  each  case  of  a  sin- 
gle cell,  i.  e.  of  a  minute  mass  of  protoplasm  invested  with  a 
cell-wall,  while  the  unicellular  plant  draws  its  nutriment  by 
simple  imbibition  through  the  cell-wall  from  the  surround- 
ing medium, —  a  process  which  implies  that  all  its  nutri- 
ment passes  into  it  in  a  liquid  form, —  the  unicellular  animal 
is  able  to  take  in  solid  nutriment  by  means  of  interruptions 
in  the  continuity  of  the  cell-wall,  and  is  also  able  after- 
wards to  reduce  this  solid  food,  if  of  a  suitable  composi- 
tion, to  the  liquid  state." 

We  do  not  have  to  go  very  far  above  the  monera  to  find  what 
we  may  safely  call  vegetable  forms.  And  first  we  discover, 
for  example,  the  protococcus,  "which  forms  dull  crimson 
patches  resembling  blood-stains  on  the  northern  side  of 
damp  rocks  or  old  walls," —  plants  of  a  single  cell,  of  which 
Haeckel  says,  "  several  hundred  thousand  occupy  a  space 
no  larger  than  a  pin's  head."  They  belong  to  the  algse  or 
tangles ;  and,  while  these  are  perhaps  the  smallest,  within 
the  same  division  at  the  other  end  of  the  scale  we  find  the 
largest  plants,  the  macrocysts,  300  or  400  feet  in  length. 
With  the  algse  of  the  sea,  in  some  form,  we  are  most  of  us 
familiar,  and  many  of  the  species  which  we  find  upon  the 
shore,  where  they  have  been  left  stranded  by  the  tide,  are 
exceedingly  beautiful.  It  is  noteworthy,  that  some  alga; 
have  been  found  living  in  hot-springs  at  a  temperature  as 
high  as  208  degrees  Fahr., —  a  quite  exceptional  condition 
of  life.  . 

Nearly  related  to  the  algse,  are  the  fungi  and  lichens, 
the  algse  being  distinguished  from  the  others  by  contain- 
ing chlorophyll,  that  is,  th^  substance  which  gives  the  green 
color  which  we  see  in  most  plants,  and  which  is  supposed 
to  be  the  principal  instrument  in  the  elaboration  of  the  nu- 


'    Evolution    of  Vegetal   Life.  123 

triment  upon  which  the  plant  subsists.  Among  the  fungi 
are  the  bacteria,  the  yeast-plants,  the  bread-moulds,  the 
cheese-moulds,  mushrooms,  toadstools,  rust,  smut,  and  a 
vast  number  of  others  of  a  related  character.  These,  as  is 
the  case  with  most  of  the  lower  forms  of  life,  multiply  with 
enormous  rapidity.  Together,  the  algae,  fungi  and  li- 
chens form  the  sub-kingdom  called  Thallophyta,  the  charac- 
teristip  of  which  is  that  the  plants  are  without  distinct  dif- 
erentiation  of  root,  stem  and  lateral  appendages. 

Another  sub-kingdom, —  Cormophyta,—  embraces  the  re- 
maining vegetable  population,  which  may  be  arranged  ap- 
proximately in  the  order  of  development  or  of  elaboration, 
thus  :  mosses  and  liverworts ;  ferns ;  the  equisetse  or 
horsetails ;  the  lycopodiums  or  club-mosses  and  their  near 
relations :  then  the  flowering  plants,  beginning  with  the 
coniferae, —  the  pines,  firs,  cypresses,  yews,  and  the  cycas, 
which  have  naked  seeds,  usually  in  cones, —  and  ending  with 
the  multitude  of  trees,  shrubs  and  herbs  having  their  seeds 
enclosed  in  seed-vessels,  and  divided  into  those  the  stems  of 
which  increase  in  size  by  additions  throughout  their  thick- 
ness, like  the  palms  among  trees,  and  the  lilies  among 
herbs,  and  those  which  increase  in  size  by  growth  on  the  ex- 
terior of  the  wood  immediately  under  the  bark — thus 
showing  year-marks  if  they  be  perennials ;  this  division  in- 
cluding such  trees  as  the  oak,  and  such  herbs  as  the  violet. 

While  differing  enormously  among  themselves  in  every 
respect  except  one,  the  leading  difference  which  runs 
through  this  classification  is  in  the  method  of  reproduction, 
and  the  structure  of  the  reproductive  organs.  In  the  very 
lowest  plant-forms,  multiplication  seems  to  depend  simply 
upon  the  strength  of  the  cell  membrane.  The  single  cell 
increases  in  size,  and  a  partition  is  formed  across  it.  If  the 
membrane  be  weak,  the  two  cells  part  company,  and  the 
number  of  that  species  has  been  doubled.  If  the  mem- 
brane be  strong,  the  two  cells  remain  attached,  and  the  pro- 
cess of  increase  in  size  and  division  may  continue.  The  pro- 
toplasm of  the  unicellular  plant  is  frequently  broken  into 
fragments,  each  provided  with  cilia  or  filamentous  prolon- 
gations of  the  protoplasm,  by  the  aid  of  which  they  move 
rapidly  through  the  water  in  which  they  are  formed.  Grad- 
ually each  becomes  covered  with  a  coating  of  cellulose,  and 
begins  life  as  a  complete  plant.  Much  higher  in  the  scale 
of  vegetation,  the  power  of  increase  by  simple  sub-division 


124  Bvolutwn   of  Verjetal   Life. 

is  retained,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  propagation  by  cuttings. 
A  more  marked  instance  is  to  be  found  in  the  case  of  the 
begonia,  which  the  florists  propagate  from  fragments  of 
the  leaves.  In  some  of  the  garden  lilies,  perfect  bulbs  are 
formed  in  the  axils  of  the  leaves ;  in  other  plants,  bulbs 
are  formed  under  ground;  in  the  potato,  large  stems  or 
tubers  are  formed  upon  the  roots,  and  from  these  new  plants 
are  grown. 

In  the  simplest  plants  formed  of  aggregations  of  cells, 
the  independence  of  the  cells  seems  to  be  simply  limited  by 
their  physical  attachment  to  each  other ;  subsequently  the 
functions  of  the  parts  become  diversified,  and  a  division  of 
labor  begins. 

The  next  form  of  the  reproductive  process  is  found  in  the 
desmids  and  diatoms,  which,  beside  multiplying  by  division, 
also  multiply  by  conjugation ;  that  is,  two  cells  or  plants 
unite  to  form  a  compound  plant,  the  contents  of  which,  tak- 
ing upon  itself  a  coat  of  cellulose,  begins  a  new  series  of 
individuals.  The  next  is  a  differentiation  in  the  structure 
of  the  plant  by  means  of  which  certain  cells  called  anther- 
idia,  produce  antherozoids,  which  correspond  with  the  grains 
of  pollen  in  the  higher  plants,  and  other  cells  produce 
ob'spheres  which  correspond  with  the  protoplasmic  contents 
of  the  ovules.  Then  we  come  to  the  mosses,  which  have  pro- 
cesses resembling  pistils  and  antheridia,  either  on  the  same, 
or  on  separate  plants.  Then  ferns,  in  which  the  spores, 
found  upon  the  underside  of  the  fronds  or  leaves,  drop  off 
when  ripe,  and  produce  minute  plantlets,  which  contain  sep- 
arate elements  which  must  unite  before  fertilization  is  ef- 
fected. Above  this  grade  are  the  flowering  plants,  in  which 
is  more  or  less  developed  the  complete  system  which  I  have 
described  in  the  case  of  the  rose. 

In  much  the  greater  number  of  the  plants  with  which  we 
are  familiar,  the  stamens  and  pistils  are  found  in  the  same 
flower ;  sometimes  they  are  found  in  different  flowers  upon 
the  same  plant ;  sometimes  some  of  the  flowers  upon  a.plant 
are  perfect,  and  some  are  staminate  or  pistillate  only ;  and 
sometimes  the  staminate  or  pistillate  flowers  are  found  upon 
separate  plants.  The  last  form  is  esteemed  the  most  high- 
ly developed.  I  should  note  in  passing  that  while  in  all 
the  higher  orders  of  plants  having  flowers  with  stamens  and 
pistils,  fertilization  seems  to  be  necessary  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  race,  nevertheless  instances  have  been  occa- 


Evolution    of  Veyetal   Life.  125 

sionally  observed,  in  which  perfect  seeds  appear  to  have 
been  formed  without  fertilization. 

I  have  said  that  the  leaf  is  the  essential  organ  of  a  per- 
fect plant.  Many  plants  consist  only  of  the  leaf.  Eising 
above  this  stage,  and  reaching  that  of  a  stem,  with  root  and 
lateral  appendages,  we  still  find  the  leaf  the  most  important 
feature,  and  upon  it  is  dependent  the  character  of  the  plant. 
The  leaves  appear  upon  the  stem  in  certain  specific  relations. 
They  are  opposite,  or  in  a  whorl  around  the  stem,  or  with 
the  stem  passing  through  them,  or  placed  like  a  shield  upon 
its  summit,  or  arranged  alternately  upon  its  sides.  If  alter- 
nate, they  are  arranged  in  certain  spirals,  as,  in  one  turn 
with  two  leaves,  or  one  turn  with  three  leaves,  or  two  turns 
with  five  leaves,  or  three  turns  with  eight  leaves,  or  five 
turns  with  thirteen  leaves,  etc.,  before  a  point  is  reached  ex- 
actly above  that  of  starting.  Sometimes,  instead  of  their 
ordinary  form,  leaves  assume  those  of  bracts,  of  scales,  as 
in  buds,  of  tendrils,  of  spines,  etc.,  and,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  of  the  various  parts  of  flowers.  In  flowers  they  exhib- 
it almost  every  conceivable  variety  of  form  and  color :  some- 
times there  is  one,  sometimes  there  are  two  floral  envelopes, 
their  leaflets  united  or  separate,  few  or  many ;  sometimes 
there  are  stamens  and  pistils  ;  sometimes  either ;  sometimes 
none  ;  sometimes  the  flower  is  regular  in  shape ;  sometimes 
irregular,  in  one  or  other  direction, —  any  one  of  the  parts 
occasionally  reverting  to  its  normal  form  as  a  simple  leaf. 
As  the  branches  usually  appear  at  the  axils  of  the  leaves, 
the  arrangement  of  the  branches  is  governed  by  that  of  the 
leaves. 

I  have  said  that  plants  differ  in  structure  in  every  respect 
except  one.  That  one  is  the  cell.  As  the  individual  plant 
starts  with  a  single  cell,  and,  simply  by  aggregation  of  cells 
growing  from  this  one,  obtains  at  last  all  its  varied  parts  as 
a  perfect  whole,  so  the  vegetable  kingdom  throughout,  from 
the  simplest  form  to  the  most  complex,  is  but  a  series  of 
similar  aggregations.  Under  the  development  hypothesis  it 
is  claimed  that  these  forms  are  of  a  common  stock ;  are  re- 
lated to  each  other  by  lines  of  descent,  all  having  probably 
originated  in  the  unicellular  aggregation  of  protoplasm 
which  I  have  described.  As  we  cannot  say  how  this  became 
differentiated  from  inorganic  matter,  so  we  cannot  positive- 
ly say  whether  such  differentiation  can  now  take  place. 
The  problem  of  spontaneous  generation  is  one  to  which 


126  Evolution   of  Vegetal   Life. 

much  time  and  thought  and  careful  experiment  have  been 
given. 

Not  many  years  ago  it  was  supposed  that  the  develop- 
ment of  infusoria  in  water,  in  which  organic  matter  had 
been  steeped ;  the  swarming  of  animal  and  vegetable  life  in 
decaying  organic  matter  of  all  kinds,  and  where  no  organic 
matter  was  known  to  exist,  and  great  caution  had  been  used 
in  experimentation, —  and  other  similar  facts, —  were  proof 
positive  that  such  life  may  even  now  be  generated  sponta- 
neously. But  then  followed  an  enormous  increase  in  the 
precision  and  care  with  which  experiments  could  be  con- 
ducted, and  it  was  believed  by  most  that  when  all  access  of 
the  germ-laden  air  had  been  made  impossible,  and  other  es- 
sential conditions  had  been  fulfilled,  no  such  generation  oc- 
curred. Subsequent  investigation  made  this  again  uncertain. 
I  have  an  impression  that  some  one  has  said, —  if  not,  some 
one  will  say, —  that  the  struggle  here  is  like  that  between 
the  manufacturers  of  big  guns,  and  the  builders  of  mail-clad 
vessels.  As  to  spontaneous  generation  at  the  present  time, 
we  can  hardly  dp  more  than  render  the  Scotch  verdict, — 
"not  proven."  £But  if  it  does  not  now  occur,  it  does  not 
therefore  follow  that  in  the  long-buried  past  the  conditions 
may  not  have  been  such  as  to  have  permitted  this. 

In  this  connection,  the  theory  that  the  parts  of  an  individ- 
ual, such  as  a  tree  or  the  individual  cells  of  even  complex 
organisms,  may  have  some  sort  of  independent  existence,  is 
most  interesting. 

Supposing  the  development  theory  to  be  correct,  it  is  to 
be  assumed  that  the  earliest  forms  of  vegetable  and  animal 
life  must  have  been  the  simplest  —  mere  albuminous  mat- 
ter. No  such  forms  are  found  in  the  geological  record :  it 
is  impossible  that  they  should  be, —  their  substance  and  or- 
ganization (if  we  may  use  such  a  term)  were  such  that  they 
must  inevitably  be  annihilated  by  time  and  mechanical  ac- 
tion. Moreover,  all  the  earlier  rocks  appear  to  have  been 
exposed  to  such  heat  and  pressure  as  must  unquestionably 
have  destroyed  much  more  elaborated  tissues  than  those  first 
formed.  Even  should  we  ever  obtain  access  to  that  portion 
of  the  record  now  concealed  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  or 
under  the  waters  of  the  sea,  there  is  scarcely  a  possibility 
that  we  should  find  evidence  of  the  earliest  forms  of  life. 
Moreover,  we  could  not  expect  to  find  a  regular  series  of 
forms.  Between  those  deposits  in  which  vegetable  remains 


Evolution   of  Vegetal   Life.  127 

-are  preserved  there  are  the  widest  gaps.  They  were  usually- 
laid  down  upon  sea-bottoms,  or  in  shallow  lakes,  or  at  the 
mouths  of  rivers,  and  vast  intervals  of  upheaval  occurred 
between  them.  There  were  also  great  changes  in  temper- 
ature, and  by  climatic  influences,  and  the  varying  connec- 
tions of  islands  and  continents,  alternately  elevated  and  de- 
pressed, tribes  have  been  pent  within  narrow  limits,  or 
spread  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe.  Nevertheless,  in 
general,  the  story  that  geology  tells  is  the  story  that  we 
should  expect  to  hear.  In  the  several  great  geologic  pe- 
riods, evidences  of  the  vegetable  life  of  which  have  been 
preserved,  certain  plant-forms  have  dominated  in  turn,  and 
in  the  order  of  their  complexity  as  I  have  already  defined 
them. 

First  appeared  the  algae,  in  the  Primordial  Epoch,  and 
with  them;  apparently,  no  other.  In  the  Primary  Epoch, 
in  which  were  made  the  great  coal  deposits  of  the  Carbonif- 
erous Period,  there  was  an  enormous  development  of  mosses, 
of  lycopodiums,  of  equisetse  or  horsetails,  and  of  giant 
ferns  in  great  variety  and  of  great  beauty.  So  far  as  many 
of  these  exist  to-day,  they  are  characteristic  growths  of 
warm  countries.  It  is  noteworthy  that  plant-life  was  the 
dominant  life  of  the  Carboniferous  Period ;  that  plants  grow 
most  luxuriantly  in  an  atmosphere  containing  an  excess  of 
carbonic-acid  gas ;  that  the  effect  of  such  an  atmosphere 
would  be  to  greatly  raise  the  temperature  of  the  surface  of 
the  globe ;  and  that  during  the  Carboniferous  Period,  this 
tropical  vegetation  seems  to  have  been  spread  throughout 
the  circum-polar  regions.  If,  then,  at  this  period,  there  was 
an  excess  of  carbonic-acid  gas  in  the  earth's  atmosphere, 
all  the  facts  which  we  note  are  harmoniously  accounted  for. 

The  latter  part  of  the  Primary  Epoch  and  the  beginning 
of  the  Secondary,  saw  the  development  and  reign  of  the 
palm-ferns  and  the  pines ;  and  then  the  palms  and  similar 
interior  growing  plants ;  and  finally,  in  the  Tertiary  and 
Modern  Epochs,  became  dominant  the  hard  wood  trees  and 
varied  flora  that  now  in  great  part  form  the  royal  fittings  of 
the  temple  of  nature  in  which  we  dwell.  Of  old  herbaceous 
forms  the  remains  are,  naturally,  relatively  few,  because  of 
the  softness  of  their  substance ;  but  so  far  as  they  appear, 
their  character  corresponds  with  that  of  the  general  record. 

I  do  not  mean  that  all  of  our  present  forms  are  very  re- 
cent. On  the  contrary,  though  not  among  the  earliest,  some 


128  Ei'nlut',(>n    nf    rt'.j.-tnl    Life. 

of  them  were  developed  long  ago,  and  when  vegetation  gen- 
erally was  of  a  simpler  character.  Take  for  instance  the 
sequoias,  once  numerous,  of  which  there  are  now  but  two 
living  species,  both  on  the  Pacific  slope,  and  of  which  giant 
trees  it  used  to  be  said  that  it  required  two  men  and  a  boy 
to  see  to  the  top  of  one  of  them.  Nor  do  I  mean  that 
none  of  our  present  forms  are  simple  and  primary.  I  have 
already  shown  you  that  the  case  is  quite  different.  But,  as 
we  shall  see,  there  is  not  only  no  incongruity  in  this ;  on 
the  contrary,  it  is  in  strict  accordance  with  the  theory  which 
I  am  attempting  to  illustrate. 

The  theory  of  Evolution,  as  portrayed  by  Spencer,  de- 
scribes a  progress  from  the  homogeneous  to  the  heteroge- 
neous ;  from  the  all-alike,  to  the  greatly  varied.  This  does 
not  necessarily  imply  advance  in  one  direction.  The  con- 
tribution of  Darwin  to  this  theory  was  the  proposition  of  a 
condition,  of  an  active  agent,  and  of  the  method  of  its  ope- 
ration ;  the  struggle  for  existence,  natural  selection,  and  the 
survival  of  the  fittest :  of  the  fittest,  mark  you,  to  comply 
with  the  conditions  existing,- — not  fittest  in  the  sense  of 
best,  which  is  the  interptetation  usually  put  upon  the  term 
by  those  who  have  not  made  the  matter  a  study.  We  have 
here  however  a  good  illustration  of  the  saying  that  there  is 
always  room  at  the  top.  The  greater  the  variety,  the  more 
certain  it  is  that  with  complexity  of  form  will  come  advance 
on  certain  lines,  because,  upward  and  outward,  the  possibil- 
ities are  infinite. 

Darwin  claimed,  modestly  but  firmly,  that  the  one  named 
by  him  was  the  principal,  though  not  necessarily  the  only 
cause  of  the  development  of  all  existing  animal  and  veg- 
etable life  from  simple  primary  forms.  If  you  have  not 
thought  carefully  of  the  matter,  perhaps  you  have  not  real- 
ized that  there  is  any  such  thing  as  a  struggle  for  existence 
in  organic  life,  although  those  of  you  who  have  tackled  the 
world  single-handed  may  perhaps  be  inclined  to  make  an 
exception  in  your  own  case.  Let  us  see  :  a  few  suggestions, 
only,  will  suffice. 

Experiment  has  shown  that  the  air  contains  germs  in 
great  variety,  in  numbers  inconceivable.  So  also  the  soil. 
Darwin  took  three  table-spoonfuls  of  mud,  from  three  dif- 
ferent points  beneath  water  on  the  edge  of  a  little  pond,  and, 
placing  it  under  cover  in  his  study,  kept  it  there  for  six 
months,  pulling  up  and  counting  each  plant  as  it  grew. 


Evolution   of  Vegetal   Life.  129 

There  were  537  of  them  !  But  one  other  case  will  tell  the 
whole  story.  Darwin  counted  and  estimated  the  seeds  of 
one  of  the  English  orchids  —  orchis  maculata :  there  were 
186,000.  Taking  into  account  the  size  of  the  plant,  he  found 
by  calculation  that  if  these  seeds  should  all  grow,  174,000 
of  them  would  be  sufficient  to  cover  an  acre ;  that  is,  in  one 
generation,  or  one  year,  the  fruit  of  a  single  plant  would  be 
sufficient  to  cover  an  acre ;  in  two,  sufficient  to  cover  the 
island  of  Anglesea ;  in  three  to  cover  47-50ths,  or  nearly 
the  whole,  of  the  surface  of  the  earth !  Yet  this  plant  is 
not  increasing  in  number  :  not  more  than  one,  then,  out  of 
186,000  of  its  seeds,  is  able  to  maintain  itself  to  the  point 
of  producing  other  seeds,  and  carrying  on  the  line. 

Seeing  that  such  is  the  condition  of  life, —  that  all  the 
11  soft  places "  must  be  taken  almost  at  the  moment  the 
doors  are  opened,  and  that  standing-room  only  is  to  be  found 
by  the  few  that  are  ready  to  take  the  places  of  those  that 
from  time  to  time  fall  out  of  the  ranks,  is  it  not  inevitable 
that  the  slightest  advantage  in  any  conceivable  direction 
Avill  be  favorable,  and  that  the  plant  having  this  advantage 
will  be  the  one  that  will  live  and  perfect  its  seed  ? 

We  have  seen  that  slight  variations  are  the  rule  in  nature. 
These  variations  may  take  any  direction.  If  there  are  up- 
on a  given  space  all  the  tall  plants  that  can  there  find  room, 
smaller  ones  only  can  creep  in,  and  vice  versa.  If  all  the 
material  required  by  complicated  organisms  is  already  spok- 
en for,  those  only  that  can  live  on  an  inferior  quality  can 
find  a  chance  to  exist.  There  are  all  possible  gradations  of 
these  conditions.  Experience  shows  that  a  spot  of  ground 
sown  with  the  seeds  of  several  genera  of  grasses,  will  pro- 
duce a  greater  number  of  plants,  and  greater  weight  of  herb- 
age, than  a  similar  spot  sown  with  a  single  species.  Dar- 
win found  011  a  piece  of  turf,  three  feet  by  four,  which  had 
been  left  for  many  years  under  similar  conditions,  plants  of 
twenty  species,  from  eighteen  genera  and  eight  orders,  show- 
ing a  wide  difference  in  character. 

Time  will  not  permit  me  to  even  enter  upon  the  details 
which  have  been  gathered  illustrating  the  nature  of  this 
struggle  for  position,  which  is  incessantly  going  on,  or  the 
evidences  of  its  effect,  excepting  possibly  in  a  single  direc- 
tion. I  should  like  to  explain  Darwin's  hypothesis  of  Pan- 
genesis.  I  should  like  to  show  you  how  seeds  and  plants 
are  distributed :  borne  on  the  wings  of  the  wind ;  carried  in 


130  Evolution   nf  Vegetal   Life. 

the  crops  or  between  the  toes  of  birds ;  floated  across  waters 
in  old  tree-trunks  and  timbers,  or  shipped  unwittingly  in 
the  meshes  of  sacks  or  cracks  of  packing-boxes.  I  should 
like  to  tell  how  our  most  troublesome  weeds,  like  the  white- 
weed,  or  so-called  daisy,  wnich  trades  upon  the  reputation 
of  the  "  wee,  modest,  crimson-tippit  flower,"  and  a  host  of 
others,  are  pauper-immigrants, —  some  of  them  anarchists, 
indeed, —  naturalized  and  voters  the  first  year,  every  one. 
Against  them,  high  license,  local  option,  and  prohibition 
have  been  alike  unavailing :  the  American  System  of  Pro- 
tection has  been  an  utter  failure.  I  should  like  also  to  show 
you  the  minute  degrees  by  which  great  changes  are  usually 
effected,  but  perhaps  this  has  been  sufficiently  done  in  what 
I  have  said  in  relation  to  Artificial  Selection.  Natural  Se- 
lection is  simply  the  happening,  under  ordinary  conditions, 
of  that  which  man  effects  under  extraordinary  conditions. 
It  is  simply  that  which  must  result,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
from  the  fact  that  a  small  fraction  only  of  the  whole  can 
survive ;  and  from  the  two  diverse  tendencies  in  the  laws 
of  descent,  for  like  to  produce  like,  and  for  the  child  to  dif- 
fer slightly  from  the  parent.  Of  course  the  enormous  ex- 
tent of  the  changes  presupposes  an  enormous  lapse  of  time 
in  which  they  were  effected.  But  that  lapse  of  time  geol- 
ogy shows  to  have  occurred. 

I  will  only  mention  one  part  of  the  evidence  of  adaptation 
which  has  been  recorded.  The  conviction  was  forced  upon 
Darwin's  mind,  by  the  results  of  an  immense  amount  of  re- 
search, that  persistent  inbreeding  is  probably  detrimental 
to  any  plant :  that  strength  results  from  the  crossing  of  in- 
dividuals, if  not  of  varieties  or  species ;  and  that,  with  a 
higher  grade  in  life,  comes  an  increasing  tendency  to  spe- 
cialization in  the  reproductive  organs,  and  the  interposition 
of  bars  to  self-fertilization.  His  most  exhaustive  study  was 
made  among  orchids,  of  which  there  are  some  6000  species. 
Many  of  these  are  epiphytes,  or  air-plants,  and  are  marked 
by  the  strangeness  or  magnificence  of  their  blossoms.  They 
are  also  marked  by  a  wonderful  tendency  to  hybridize,  which 
enables  florists  from  month  to  month  to  exhibit  new  forms 
and  colors,  sometimes  of  wondrous  beauty,  and  therefore,  I 
imagine,  not  closely  resembling  the  dog  for  which  the  boy 
wanted  an  extra  price,  because  he  comprised  sixteen  differ- 
ent kinds. 

Darwin  found  that  in  nearly  all  orchids  it  is  impossible 


Evolution   of  Veyetal   Life.  131 

for  the  pollen  of  a  plant  to  reach  the  stigma  of  the  same, 
but  that  fertilization  is  effected  by  bees,  butterflies,  and 
other  insects,  which  bring  pollen  from  other  plants  while 
seeking  for  nectar,  the  flowers  being  usually  so  constructed 
as  to  make  it  impracticable  for  them  to  withdraw  without 
carrying  away  the  pollen-masses  from  the  anthers,  or  to  en- 
ter the  nectaries  of  other  flowers  without  placing  these 
masses  upon  the  stigmas.  The  book  in  which  he  explains 
this  process,  you  will  find  most  fascinating. 

Among  the  trees  upon  my  rocky  hillside,  I  found  last 
summer  numerous  specimens  of  a  showy,  rose-purple  or- 
chid,—  one  of  the  Cypripediums, —  called  indifferently,  wild 
lady-slipper,  Koah's-ark,  or  moccasin  flower.  If  I  were 
to  tell  the  whole  truth,  I  might  have  to  confess  that  it  was 
partly  because  of  its  presence  that  I  was  induced  to  buy  the 
property.  This  belongs  to  a  genus  which  Darwin  believes, 
from  its  structure,  to  have  been  one  of  the  earlier  forms, 
in  which  the  fertilization  of  the  flower  by  its  own  pollen, 
or  that  of  another  plant,  depends  upon  whether  the  insect 
enters  it  first  by  one  of  the  side  notches  or  by  that  in  the 
middle.  In  most  orchids,  there  is  no  option, —  the  flower 
must  be  fertilized  from  another ;  and  this  is  the  case  with 
one  of  the  most  attractive  of  the  smaller  species,  the  lovely 
little  white  spiranthes,  or  ladies'-tresses,  of  our  meadows. 

Perhaps  I  might  venture  to  mention  just  one  other  in- 
stance of  complicated  relations,  of  especial  interest  to  our 
single  sisters.  Darwin  found  that  the  fertilization  of  red 
clover  depends  largely,  if  not  solely,  upon  the  visits  of 
humble-bees ;  that  the  number  of  bees  is  greatly  reduced 
in  a  district  where  field-mice  are  numerous ;  and  that  the 
number  of  field-mice  is  dependent  upon  the  number  of  cats. 
Huxley  carries  the  chain  one  link  further,  and  throws  out 
the  suggestion  that  it  is  the  abundance,  or  otherwise,  of  the 
old-maids  who  cherish  the  cats,  upon  which  rests  the  fate 
of  the  red  clover, —  and  indeed,  as  Carl  Vogt  says,  the  fate 
of  the  English  race,  whose  staple  food  is  the  beef  grown 
from  the  red  clover.  So  you  see  that  starting  with  the 
women,  by  a  devious  course  we  reach  the  men  at  last. 

Why  do  these  changes  of  form  occur  ?  I  cannot  tell  you  : 
no  man  can  to-day  tell  you.  We  only  know  that  variations 
are  constantly  taking  place ;}  that  one  form  is  developed 
from  another ;  that  these  variations  result  from  tendencies 


132  Evolution   of  Vegetal  Life. 

controlling  the  organic  matter,  checked  and  guided  by  sur- 
rounding conditions.  We  know  that  these  changes  occur, 
as  certainly  as  we  can  possibly  know  anything :  they  are 
taking  place  at  every  instant  before  our  eyes.  Whether  all 
changes  have  been  of  the  same  character ;  whether  all  forms 
of  life,  above  the  most  simple,  have  come  from  pre-existing 
forms,  we  cannot  now  prove, —  we  can  probably  never  prove. 
The  most  that  we  can  say  is,  that  the  preponderance  of  ev- 
idence in  this  direction  is  overwhelming ;  that  the  system 
thus  outlined  is  consistent  and  reasonable ;  and  that  any 
other  system  or  theory,  which  has  so  far  been  broached, 
seems  arbitrary,  artificial  and  improbable.  WTe  cannot  say 
that  we  can  understand  it,  excepting  as  a  logical  process : 
our  minds  as  developed  so  far  have  not  capacity  for  grasp- 
ing certain  ideas,  which  nevertheless  we  can  express.  What- 
ever theory  of  creation  we  may  accept,  whichever  horn  of 
the  great  dilemma  we  may  adopt, —  as,  for  example,  that 
there  was  a  point  which  had  no  antecedent,  or  that  there 
was  no  such  point, —  we  are  alike  landed  in  the  inconceiv- 
able :  and  yet,  the  inconceivable  on  the  one  hand  or  the  oth- 
er, must  be  the  true.  This  is  not  saying  that  we  must  not 
speculate  ;  it  is  simply  saying  that  from  the  constitution  of 
the  mind  speculation  has  its  limits,  which  we  shall  reach, 
and  which  will  bring  us  to  a  halt  willy-nilly :  we  need  not 
fear  lest  we  transcend  these  limits ;  we  cannot  overstep  the 
boundary  until  our  minds  take  on  new  powers.  We  shall 
adopt,  and  properly  adopt,  that  theory  which  is  in  closest 
accord  with  what  our  experience  shows  us  to  be  the  facts ; 
that  theory  which  requires  us  to  make  the  least  draft  upon 
the  arbitrary  and  the  cataclysmic. 

Some  weeks  ago  there  appeared,  among  the  waifs  in  one 
of  our  daily  papers,  the  following  story :  "  It  is  said  that 
when  Gen.  Grant  was  in  Japan,  the  Japanese  Premier, 
Prince  Kung,  desiring  to  compliment  the  General  by  telling 
him  that  he  was  born  to  command,  tried  it  in  English  with 
this  result :  '  Sire,  brave  General,  you  vas  made  to  order.' " 
Apparently,  in  most  quarters  to-day,  as  in  the  past,  the 
great  question  is,  whether  things  have  been  made  to  order. 
The  question  of  design  has  been  the  vital  question,  whether 
Paley  has  been  the  spokesman  upon  the  one  side  or  Haeckel 
the  spokesman  upon  the  other.  During  the  contest  through 
which  the  development  hypothesis  passed  before  its  general 
acceptance  by  the  great  body  of  scientific  men,  this  ques- 


(X  )^ils 

volv 

vf^it 

inf*  i 


^v 
*. 


Evolution,   of  Veyetal   Life.  133 

tion  of  design  was  probably  the  principal  stumbling-block, 
and  many  shades  of  theory  have  been  advanced,  ranging 
from  the  idea  of  an  absolute  pre-existent  plan,  carried  out 
with  mechanical  exactness  by  a  divine  artificer  residing  afar, 
to  that  of  the  occurrence  of  purely  fortuitous  and  unintend- 
ed combinations.  The  latter  is  that  of  Haeckel,  who  sup 
poses  all  development  to  result  from  what  he  calls  natural 
causes  and  mechanical  laws,  without  any  participation  of 
divine  power.  But  whence  come  these  "  natural  causes  '\ 
"  mechanical  laws  "  he  fails  to  explain,  and  he  likewise 
to  explain  how  he  knows  that  no  divine  power  is  in- 
volved. 

seems  to  me  that  there  is  a  different  way  of  apprehend- 
ing  the  universe,  which  accords  with  the  facts  more  nearly 
than  any  of  these,  from  the  most  orthodox  to  the  most  ma- 
terialistic  ;  and  it  is  the  natural  outcome  of  the  idea  of  the 
one-ness  of  things  carried  to  its  wth  power,  —  to  its  ultimate. 

We  know  nothing  of  spirit,  except  as  we  find  it  manifest- 
ed through  matter  :  we  know  nothing  of  matter  except  as 
spirit  makes  it  objective.  We  know  nothing  of  absolute 
life,  except  as  we  see  it  manifested  in  ourselves,  or  in  that 
which  is  around  us,  or  in  that  which  what  is  around  us  and 
in  us  records.  We  know  nothing  of  a  primary  fiat  ;  we 
know  only  development  and  change.  Why  should  we  turn 
our  backs  upon  that  which  we  know,  to  guess  at  that  which 
we  do  not  know,  and  cannot  possibly  prove  ?  Why  choose 
an  arbitrary  theory  while  the  facts  before  us  all  point  in 
one  direction  ? 

We  talk  of  "natural  laws"  and  "divine  laws."  We 
know  nothing  of  the  imposition  of  such  laws.  —  we  can  know 
nothing.  All  that  we  mean  by'tnese  expressions  is,  that 
-we  are  conscious  of  an  invariable  seojience.  The  Universe 
holds  together  :  there  is  no  revolt  in  that  which  exists. 

"Ever  fresh  the  broad  Creation, 
A  divine  improvisation 
From  the  heart  of  God  proceeds, 
A  single  will,  a  million  deeds." 

Our  life  is  a  becoming.  Life  is  a  becoming.  Speaking 
reverentially,  as  one  must,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  Universe 
with  all  that  it  contains  is  but  the  outward  semblance  of 
one  life  that  is  ^self-developing,  and  that  to  speak  of  design 
in  the  ordinary  sense  is  a  crude  and  inadequate  way  of  ex- 
pressing  the  condition  upon  which  that  life  subsists.  Noth- 


134  Evolution    of  Vegetal   Life. 

ing  is  fortuitous ;  nor  does  it  seem  to  be  any  more  true  to 
say  that  it  is  created,  in  the  mechanical  sense.  Life  is_ 
evolving :  that  jj  all  that  we  observe,  that^is  all  that  we 
jmow.  The  meanest  thing  that  we  see,  the  highest  thing 
that  we  can  conceive,  are  manifestations  of  that  life,  whose 
possibilities  are  beyond  our  conception. 

"For  I  have  learned 
To  look  on  nature,  not  as  in  the  hour 
Of  thoughtless  youth  ;  but  hearing  oftentimes 
The  still,  sad  music  of  humanity. 
Nor  harsh  nor  grating,  though  of  ample  power 
To  chasten  and  subdue.     And  I  have  felt 
A  presence  that  disturbs  me  with  a  joy 
Of  elevated  thoughts  ;  a  sense  sublime 
Of  something  far  more  deeply  interfused, 
Whose  dwelling  is  the  light  of  setting  suns, 
And  the  round  ocean  and  the  living  air, 
And  the  blue  sky,  and  in  the  mind  of  man  : 
A  motion  and  a  spirit,  that  impels 
All  thinking  things,  all  objects  of  all  thought, 
And  rolls  through  all  things." 

With  the  birth  of  consciousness  we  feel  life ;  with  the 
development  of  mind  we  are  able  to  recognize  it;  with  the 
growth  of  mind,  to  realize  that  we  are  of  it ;  with  the  refin- 
ing and  exaltation  of  mind,  we  can  deliberately  fall  into 
line  and  assume  our  share  of  the  labor  which  carries  that 
life,  of  which  we  are  part,  ever  forward  to  higher  issues. 

Is  it  possible  to  contemplate  any  finer  or  holier  relation, 
any  higher  destiny  than  thus  exists  ? 


Evolution   of  Veyetal   Life.  135 


ABSTRACT   OF   THE    DISCUSSION. 

DR.  MARTIN  L.  HOLBBOOK  :  — 

In  my  judgment  both  animal  and  vegetable  life  have  evolved 
from  forms  originally  possessing  some  of  the  characteristics  of 
both  kingdoms.  Possibly  these  forms  are  now  represented  by 
well  known  micro-organisms.  Though  scientists,  after  many  years 
of  doubt,  now  class  them  as  belonging  to  the  lower  forms  of  veg- 
etable life,  some  of  them  are  as  much  animal  as  vegetable.  They 
have  no  chlorophyll,  they  do  not  take  carbon  from  the  carbonic 
acid  of  the  atmosphere,  as  plants  do,  but  from  other  organic  com- 
pounds, as  ammonia,  sugar,  etc.  They  also  require  oxygen,  which, 
like  animals,  they  draw  from  the  air.  The  cell-structure  of  the 
albuminous  compounds  of  both  plants  and  animals  is  almost  iden- 
tical. Some  of  the  epithelia  of  animal  and  vegetable  organisms 
are  so  much  alike  that  I  have  known  very  good  microscopists  to 
mistake  those  from  leaves  found  in  Crotoii  water  for  those  from 
the  human  skin  and  mouth. 

Plants  have  many  qualities  in  common  with  animals.  The  dan- 
delion is  as  aggressive  and  capable  of  self-protection  as  a  human 
being.  It  seems  to  have  a  sort  of  intelligence.  When  it  sprouts 
in  poor  soil  its  leaves  form  a  mat  extending  some  distance  from 
the  stem,  keeping  other  plants  away.  In  rich  soil,  among  other 
grasses,  it  uses  its  leaves,  which  are  notched  as  if  by  design,  as 
an  ape  uses  its  hands,  to  climb  up  to  the  sunshine.  Other  facts 
showing  similarity  of  nature,  make  it  probable  that  plants  have 
evolved  by  the  same  law  as  animnls. 

PROFESSOR  WILLIAM  B.  HIDENOTK  :  — 

The  study  of  botany  is,  throughout,  illustrative  of  the  principles 
of  evolution.  The  gardener  in  a  few  years,  by  his  skill,  does  what 
it  takes  nature  centuries  to  accomplish ;  but  he  must  do  his  work 
over  and  over  again,  as  there  is  a  strong  tendency  to  deteriorate 
and  revert  to  the  original  type.  Nature's  work,  gradually  adapt- 
ing the  organism  to  environing  conditions,  is  more  permanent. 

MR.  JAMES  A.  SKILTOX:  — 

Human  progress  is  largely  dependent  on  botanical  conditions, 
and  the  character  of  a  vegetation  largely  determines  the  character 


136  Evolution    of  Verjetal   Life. 

of  the  men  of  a  given  locality.  The  thistle  which  Adam  cursed, 
according  to  tradition,  is  a  product  of  de-volution,  botanists  as- 
sure us.  By  studying  the  laws  and  conditions  of  evolution  in  its 
total  range,  we  have  the  materials  for  a  science  of  prophecy, 
which  may  ultimately  enable  man  to  lay  hold  on  the  future,  and 
greatly  hasten  the  progress  of  civilization. 

Dis.  ROBERT  G.  ECCLES: — 

All  science  in  one  sense  is  pre- vision  or  prophecy.  The  botan- 
ical divisions  of  plants  are  arbitrary,  and  do  not  indicate  an  ab- 
solute separation  of  species.  The  difference  between  those  most 
alike  in  different  genera  is  no  greater  than  between  some  which 
are  classified  as  belonging  to  the  same  genera,  but  of  distant  or- 
ders. The  plants  of  China  and  the  northern  part  of  America  are 
so  much  alike  as  to  indicate  a  common  origin  in  the  present  Arc- 
tic region  when  the  two  continents  were  united,  and  a  warmer 
climate  existed  in  the  polar  regions. 

DR.  LEWIS  G.  JANES:  — 

A  notable  distinction  between  the  organic  and  inorganic  king- 
doms is  observed  in  their  different  methods  of  growth  —  the  lat- 
ter by  accretion,  or  simple  addition  to  bulk;  the  former  by  intus- 
susception, or  displacement  and  renewal  of  particles  throughout 
the  whole  tissue.  On  the  theory  of.  spontaneous  generation,  sci- 
ence has  not  yet  explained  how  one  method  was  exchanged  for  the 
other,  in  the  passage  from  inorganic  to  organic  structure. 


COLLATERAL  READINGS  SUGGESTED 

IX   CONNECTION   WITH   ESSAY   V. 

Darwin's  Origin  of  Species;  Variations  of  Plants  and  Animals 
under  Domestication;  Climbing  and  Insectivorous  Plants;  How  Or- 
chids are  Fertilized;  Cross  and  Self -Fertilization;  Earth  Wormx 
and  Vegetable  Mould;  Gray's  Darwiniana,  and  How  Plants  Grow; 
Nicholson's  Palaeontology;  LeConte's  Geology;  Grant  Allen's  Evo- 
lutionist at  Large,  and  Colors  of  Flowers;  Haeckel's  Creation;  Hux- 
ley's Physical  Sasis  of  Life,  Lay  Sermons,  and  Lectures  on  Evolu- 
tion; Spencer's  Spontaneous  Generation;  Wallace's  Island  Life,  and 
Tropical  Nature;  Clarke's  Mind  in  Nature;  Bastian  and  Tyndall 
on  Spontaneous  Generation;  Powell's  Our  Heredity  from  God;  Daw- 
son's  Geological  History  of  Plants. 


A    BOOK    FOR    TRUTH-LOVERS. 


A  Study  of  Primitive  Christianity 


BY    LEWIS   G.  JANES. 


Revised  Edition.     319pp.  8vo.     Cloth,  Price,  $1.5O. 

Treats  of  the  natural  evolution  of  the  Christian  Religion,  ac- 
cording to  the  historical  method  ;  applying  the  assured  results  of 
modern  criticism  to  the  question  of  the  historical  verity  of  Jesus, 
the  investigation  of  his  life  and  teaching,  and  the  development  of 
organized  Christianity. 

"Free  and  scholarly  criticism  of  the  origin  of  Christianity." — 
Sofiton  Commonwealth. 

"The  result  of  diligent  research  in  historical  authorities,  and 
careful,  logical  thought  in  an  endeavor  to  arrive  at  fundamental 
truths." — Brentano's  Book  Chat. 

"A  cool,  quiet,  painstaking  and  fearless  examination  of  the  re- 
ligious belief  of  Christians." — Sidney  S.  Rider's  Book  Notes. 


CONTENTS: 

Preface,  by  Rev.  J.  W.  Chadwick.    Author's  Preface  to  Second  Edition. 

Introduction.  I.  —  Palestine  in  the  Roman  Period.  II.  —  Society  and  Religion 
in  the  Roman  Empire.  III.  —  Sources  of  Information.  IV.  —  Theological 
Aspects  of  the  P-filigion  of  Jesus.  V.  —  Social  Aspects  of  the  Religion  of  Jesus. 
VI.—  Myth  and  Miracle  in  the  Gospel  Stories.  VII.—  The  Christianity  of  Paul. 
VIII.—  The  Apostolic  Age.  IX.—  The  Martyr  Period.  X.—  Christianity  the 
State  Religion. 

plete  References,  Bibliography  and  Index. 


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of  our  country.  The  book  is  a  very  great  performance." — Boston 
Beacon,  editorial. 

"He  may  find,  as  Darwin  did  when  he  brought  out  the  '  Origin 
of  Species'  as  preliminary  to  a  great  work,  that  he  has  done 
enough  already  to  found  a  school  of  investigation  and  to  establish 
himself  as  master  of  a  new  departure,  profoundly  original  and 
significant,  in  the  highest  form  of  research." — Boston  Transcript. 

"One  of  the  few  carefully  prepared  and  noteworthy  books  of 
the  year." — Chicago  University. 

"Dr.  Abbot  has  the  one  quality  which  should  command  the  at- 
tention, at  least,  of  the  many;  he  is  an  intense  believer.  He  has 
faitli  in  natural  science,  which,  indeed,  is  in  no  lack  of  devotees 
to-day;  and  he  has  as  much  faith  in  religion,  which  has  now  no 
superabundance  of  real  friends;  and  his  two  faiths  are  thoroughly 
one.  .  .  .  'Scientific  Theism'  is  one  of  the  great  books  of  our 
generation." — Rev.  N.  P.  Oilman,  in  Boston  Christian  Rer/ister. 

"The  book  .  .  .  must  take  an  honorable  place  in  the  literature 
of  the  subject;  and  from  its  falling  in,  in  so  many  particulars, 
with  the  peculiar  tone  of  the  age,  will  be  very  likely  to  be  set 
down  even  above  its  merits,  great  as  those  merits  unquestionably 
are." — Boston  Literary  World. 

***  The  above  sent  postpaid,  on  receipt  of  price,  by  THE 
IDEAL  COMPANY,  620  Atlantic  Ave.,  Boston. 


"Your  little  book  is  one  of  those  1  would  like  to 
have  always  with  me."    (Springfield,  Mass.) 


THE  COMPLETE  LIFE. 

Six   Discourses, 

FROM  THE  STANDPOINT  OF  MODERN  THOII.HI. 
BY  JAMES  H.  WEST, 

AUTHOR  OF   "  UPLIFTS   OF   HEART  AND   WILL," 
"VOICES  OF  YOUTH,"   ETC.,   ETC. 


"This  world — it  means  intensely,  and  means  good; 
To  find  its  meaning  is  my  meat  and  drink." 


The  subjects  of  the  discourses  are : 
The    Complete    life,    The     Helper-On,    Moral 
Purpose,  The  I)i>ifi<-ation  of  Man,  Equi- 
librium,   "The   Holy   Spirit." 

[From  WM.  J.  POTTER.] 

"The  little  book  did  not  arrive  till  yesterday,— de- 
layed, as  the  complete  life  is  apt  to  be.  I  have  already 
dipped  into  it  here  and  there  with  great  satisfaction. 
I  specially  note  that  you  emphasize-as  a  vital  practi- 
cal reality  the  '  God-power '  in  man.  That  is  my  em- 
phasis. And  the  thought  greatens  with  me,  not  only 
as  the  basis  of  a  sound  religious  philosophy,  but  as 
the  central  motive  of  a  practical  gospel." 

[From  The  Cliir,,,,,,  Ki-i'ni mi  Join-mil .] 

"Would  that  all  pulpits  rang  with  words  as  brave 
and  true  as  we  find  in  the  published  sermon-lectures 
of  James  II.  West,  brought  out  in  book  form  with  the 
title  '  The  Complete  Life.'  Every  word  the  author  in- 
dites is  golden,  and  should  be  read  bv  young  and  old. 
Such  books  are  genuine  uplifts  of  heart  and  mind, 
and  when  we  get  to  heaven,  if  we  ever  do,  through 
earth's  sordid  dust  and  mire,  we  shall  have  men  like 
James  H.  West  to  thank  for  finding  our  way  there." 
[From  The  Clirisfimi  Itcf/ister.] 

"In  all  these  discourses  Mr. \Ve-t  sin >\vs  a  sympathy 
with  Nature,  a  poetic  and  a  spiritual  sense  of  the  di- 
vine forces  that  are  working  in  Nature  and  in  man. 
The  moral  tone  is  always  earnest,  and  the  moral  ideal 
is  high.  They  are  sermons  which  bear  on  right  thought 
and  right  living.  The  author  finds  in  the  natural  the 
synonym  of  the  divine.  He  finds  a  moral  purpose 
budding  and  blooming  in  the  nature  of  man." 

Fine  Cloth,  Gilt  Stamp,        -        6O  Cents. 

*,*  The  above  sent  postpaid,  on  receipt  of  price,  by 
THE  NEW  IDEAL  COMPANY,  620  Atlantic  Ave.,  Boston. 


"Our  part  is  to  conspire  with  the  new  works  of  new  days." — 
Emerson. 


THE   NEW  IDEAL. 

A  Journal  of  Constructive  Liberal  Thought  and  Ap- 
plied Ethics. 


EDITOR,  JAMES  IT.  WEST. 

CONTRIBUTORS: 

FRANCIS  E.  ABBOT,  Pii.l).,  WAI.  .1.  POTTKR,  13.  F.  UNDERWOOD, 
EDWIN  D.  MEAD,  FKED.  MAY  HOLLAND,  B.  W.  BALL,  O.  B. 
FKOTIIINOHAAI,  HORACE  L.  TRAUBEL,  Mrs.  EDNA  D.  CHENEY, 
CHARLES  K.  WIIIPPLE,  DR.  LEWIS  G.  JANES.  E.  P.  POWELL, 
FREDERIC  A.  HINCKLEY,  HON.  Geo.  F.  TALBOT,  CAPT.  ROBERT 
C.  ADAAIS,  CUAS.  D.  B.  MILLS,  WAI.  M.  SALTER.  LOWLAND  CON- 
NOR, MONCUHE  ]).  CONWAV,  GEO.  W.  BUCKLEY,  SAMUEL  B. 

WESTON,    Mrs.  S.  A.  UNDERWOOD,    PEHRY  MARSHALL,    M.   .1. 
SAVAGE,    DR.   C.  T.  STOCK  WELL,  Dr.  EDMUND   MONTGOMERY, 

AND    OTHERS. 


The  object  of  THE  NEW  IDEAL  is  the  discovery  and  propaga- 
tion of  constructive  liberal  thought,  and  the  application  of  modern 
ethical  ideals  to  the  increasing  problems  of  human  need.  This 
work  it  will  deem  Religion,  ft  will  feel,  moreover,  that  there  is 
no  religion  higher  or  more  necessary;  for  this,  on  its  thought  side. 
will  be  the  establishing  of  ethics  and  religion  on  a  scientific  basis, 
—  a  consummation  which  a  rapidly  increasing  number  of  the 
world's  earnest  workers  nre  more  and  more,  every  year  now,  de- 
manding and  endeavoring  ;  and  on  its  practical  side  it  will  be  the 
augmenting  of  the  sum  of  human  good. 

Monthly,  $1.OO   per   year. 

Single  copy,  1O  cents. 

Sixteen  pages,  9x12   inches. 


What  is  said  of  "The  New  Ideal." 

[From  .Jucl-c  ,1.  \V.  NOKTH,  Oleander,  Cal.] 

"I  inclose  payment  for  THE  NEW  IDEAL.  The  tone  of  your  paper 
is  nearer  what  I  want  than  anything  else  1  have  seen.  While  it  is 
free  from  Jewish  and  Christian  mythology,  it  is  full  of  useful  in- 
struction; while  it  fully  and  joyously  accepts  all  science,  it  does 
not  descend  to  coarseness  or  flippancy  in  exposing  error.  It  aims 
to  dispel  darkness  in  the  true  way. — by  presentinu  the  light  at- 
tractively. Success  to  all  such  efforts." 

Address  THE  XEW  IDEAL, 
Hathaway  Building,  620  Atlantic  Ave..  Boston,  .Mass. 


